LETTER 



• J- e 



OF OHIO, 







TO His CONSTiTUENTS, 



AMERICAN ORGAN, PRINT. 
1856. 






TO MY C:ONSTITUENTS. 



Willioiit stojipifij to cin|nirc, v. hcilier it rnav not be wholly iiiiiitcessary, 
1 desire to niiiiouiici; jmblichj, \vh;i' I iiave upon all (.ccatioiis lnTcloforc 
t-ti\d jirivfitely, to those with whom 1 have conversed on tli? subject, that I 
shall not in imy evtni be a caiididaK; for re-eli ction (o the oliice now held 
by nic. And lor the very liberal' snpport which you yave nie, when a can- 
didate for your suffrage heretofore, [)erniit nu' now to return you n:y most 
grateful acknowledi^'menls, and to express tint unly rey.ret that 1 iiuvo, thai 
my ability to disch^uire llie high duties of that olSce, is not more commen- 
surate with the lib(;rali(y of that su; port. In my course as your rt!presen- 
lative, 1 liave doubtless failed to "satisfy some, perhaps many, of my consti- 
tuents, but while I would regret surli an occyrVence, I must claim for my- 
self in that behalf, an honesty of purpose, the exercise of my best judgment, 
and a sincere belief that I was acting in accordance with what was ex- 
])ected of me, by a large majority of those wlio contr/juted to my eloctioii". 
1 knoio tliat 1 have not erred as to my purpose, and the promptings of my 
judgment, but I may possibly have misconceived the expectati<.ns of my 
supporters. Without knowing this, however, and believing «ithf'rwise, I 
iiave no apologies to make, no excuse to give, no regrets to express. The 
record is made, I abide by it — with nothmg to add, nothing to al»ate — 
Upon the close of my term i shall settle down in the ])eacerul, quiet, and 
to me, agreeable pursuit of my profession, from wliicii I trust I shall not 
soon again cither desiro, or be temjited to ^llay. Jl" I had ever doubted, 
the experience of the last few months has fully satisfied mo, that my um- 
hition to obtain oflice and position, greatly exceeds my taste to enjoy them, 
when attained : and if there were no other motive to restrain and curb 
me, this would be (juite adcfpiale. There are other considerations, how- 
ever, to^rr me in this determination, <|uile suliicient of themselves, but they 
are of a j)rivate [)ersonal nature. Tln-y com* ni me and those dearer lo mo 
than the vaultings of my political ambition, and it ib unnecessary tJKtrefore 
that they should bu given to the public. 

Having said this much, I ought possibly to dismiss iIm: subject; but occu- 
pying still as I do, a public station, and awav from liiose with whuin in 
days past, I have co-opesated politically, I cannot suller the occasion to 
pass without adding a word or tw(« in relatinn to the approaching Presi- 
dential electi'.Mi. A\u\ ha\ing aiin<;nnce<i pt.iem}ilorily my determination 



to retire from the field of political controversy, at least as an aspirant, and 
uiihout any information as to the feeling at home since the recent conven- 
tions, I cannot certainly be influenced by any desire to adapt my views to 
suit the poplar will in my district. I shall speak therefore vvjth entire free- 
dom. The whole field of political strife has been calmly anddispasaionately 
surveyed — the storm as it gathers at one point bursts forth with all its 
fury at another, and although by nature, habit, education an<l association, 
the last to croak, I confess, that in my humble judgment the country this 
day is in more imminent danger of open rupture, intestine war and blood- 
shed, than ever before ; nay more, that we are even now in the very midst 
of a domestic disquietude which if not speedily checked by the quiet, virtuou-<, 
intelligent people of the country, vvi'.i rock this government to its very 
center. And who i^ to blame ? I may be somewhat prejudiced, but surely 
1 am not so blinded as to err, when I charge it directly upon the party who 
with a hand mischievous without a parallel, struck out of existence a time- 
honored and revered settlement between the North and South upon the 
delicate and vexed subject of slavery, and thereby re-opened agitation in 
relation to it, with all the concomitant evils that has ever been the result of 
such agitation. Out of that, has originated all the strife, the danger, the 
sectional bickering and animosity, the anarchy and bloodshed, which now 
exists in the government. It has been the means on the one side of stimu- 
lating, and of giving posiiicn, respectability and character to a class of men 
who have ever repudiated all conservatism, and lived only when slavery 
agitation existed. While on the other, it has rendered more arrogant ag- 
gressive and despotic the already too arrogant aggressive and despotic 
slaveocracy which exists in certain, but happily small, portions of the coun- 
try. Under the circumstances, I need not say, that I have heartily desired, 
in comi^ion with a large body of the people, to see the government speedily 
relieved of an administration wicked enough in the first instance to perpe- 
trate the wanton wrong and outrage, and then, either culpably, unwilling 
or too imbecile, to stay the mischievous consequences growing out of it. — 
]3ut how was this malady already so disastrous, and so fraught with evil, to 
be remedied ? There were iviedicines enough, and good men loo, to ad- 
minister them, to check, if not wholly to eradicate the disease, as wide- 
spread and as deeply seated as it was; but it was not every remedy capable 
of removing the disease, that I was willing to see applied, and much less 
every quack who proposed a nostrum, that I was willing to employ. There 
was in my humble conception even in this malady such a thing as a medi- 
cine though quite sufficient to stay the disease, but more fatal in its conse- 
quences, than the malady itself. And there vvere physicians too, (juite willing 
to prescribe, who either for ignorance or design, were far more likely to 
produce fatal consequences than the disease itself with all its virulence and 



threatening fatality. I desired to see no such remedy prescribed, and no 
such physician employed. 

" Better to bear the ills we have, 
Than fly to those we know not of." 

Well, the Democracy as=iembled in coiivontion at Cincinnati, and nomi- 
Dated their ticket for the Presidency, and I shall not so far siultify myself 
as to say, that so far as eminent ability and enhirged experience in govern- 
mental atfairs are concerned, it was a noininalion " not fit" to be made. 
Forced upon the convention, as it was, by the overwhelming torrent of 
publie sentiment as exhibited everywhere, but especially in the North with 
the rank and file of the party, they could not have done otherwise than 
coniemptuoufily to spurn from them the men who had so wantonly betrayed 
their trust aiH involved the whole country in peril. And it was done — 
wisely, doubtless; and if the)' had stopped there, the country might have 
rested secure, — but not so: The policy of the present Administration was 
endorsed to appease the disappointed, and while \\\es spit upon the traitors 
they accepted all the fruits of the treason. AVith no new estate, they have 
suggested administrators upon the broken fortunes of" their deceased party 
leaders; — respectnble they may be, in point of ability, but with no power, 
or will, or hope, to redeem from bankruptcy and ruin their oidy cnpital, 
the estate received from their deserted intestates. The good and true men 
of the country turned with disappointment, loathing and disgust, from the 
inauspicious add unpromising results, as a whole, of the Cincinnati Con- 
vention, as wholly inadequate to meet the exigencies of the times, and 
directed their eyes, their hopes and affections, to Philadelphia. The seven- 
teenth of June came, and [)rompte(l by one consideration and aiiotlu r — 
many doubtless by the purest patriotism, and the most enlarged conserva- 
tisiii — that celebrated body of men assembled in convention. Ti>e hopes 
»if the all-poweruil opposition element to the present dynasty of terror and 
disgrace, seemed to be concentrated in one man, and he, ton, pre-eminent 
ill ability and learning, virtue and patriotism, r.pe in age and experience, 
V ilh admini.'^trative powers unsurpassed, " with a mind made up, if elected, 
h(! would reform the Government, and rest the executive jiovver on the 
great principles of the Consliiution, or fall in the atlemj)t." No one need 
speak of the mingled hoj)es and fears Ahicii |)revailed while this conven- 
tion progressed with its busitiess. There were tho^e, who from the first 
despaired that any good could come out of an assembly instigated, managed 
and controlled by the men who were its master-spirits. But there were 
others who, though desponiiing, hoped on. The result of that convention 
ir. known to lh<^ country. ^Vhh the announcement of the nomination of 
Fremont, as it spread with lightning rapidity over the land, expired the 
last hope that lingered around the Philadelphia Convention. "\\'hat a fall! 



Judge McLean, with all his age, learning an»J expericncp, hi.s fame, fiis 
stern integrity — the hopes of quiet, peace, purity, safety and glory to the 
<-ounlry, concentrated in him — rejected ! And a man, whose only merit, 
so far as history records it, is in the fact, that he was born in South Caro- 
lina, crossed the Rocky Mountains, subsisted on frogs, lizzards, snakes 
and grasshoppers, and captured a woolly horse, chosen as the person to 
control the destinies of this great nation! And this too by the cool, de- 
liberate intellectual men of New England and the North ! ! But what shall 
we do? if Judge McLean had been nominated, no one could h-ave hesi-. 
tated. Nor can I now hesitate to lake position. As warmly and as stead- 
ily as I have heretofore opposed the Democratic party, and as bitterly as I 
denounce the Cincinnati platform now, with my respect for the ability, au-e 
and experience of Mr. Buchanan, and with my contempt for the claims of 
Fremont, and the arrant folly — to use no harsher term — of those who dic' 
tnie.d his nomination, if I were compelled this day to choose between them 
I should vote for Mr. Buchanan. But happily we are relieved from this 
dilemma. There is still another candidate in the field — a gentleman also 
of eminent ability, of experience, and of integrity; Union loving, fearless 
in the discharge of^public duly, watchful of the rights of all and regardless 
ofiU)ne; — one who could, even in these times, administer this government 
with the same scrupulous care for the constitutional rights and guaranties 
of the people in all parts of the country, as it was administered by the early 
Presidents : — an Executive in the truest acceptation of that term, who will 
WQwXxax pnhey the will of the people as expressed through their representa- 
tives, or fail fearlessly to execute that will when so expressed. — The noblest 
Roman of them all ; I am for him. The prospect of the nomination of 
McLean, upon whom perhaps more of the opposition element to the Ad- 
ministration might have been concentrated, owing to a prejudice existing 
against Mr. Fillmore in the minds of the J9ar fxce/Ze^i/ Republicans, because 
forsooth he fearlessly executed a law passed by Congress and held to be 
constitutional by the highest judicial tribunal of the country, and against 
which not even a still small voice was heard in the Republican Convention ; 
the claims of Mr. Fillmore have been for a time to some extent eclipsed in 
the North, but even as the brightest star in the firmament is the more bril- 
liant as it emerges from beneath the cloud, under which for a while it has 
been hidden, so now with the claims of Millard Fillmore. He may not 
perhaps obtain the support of the ultra dis-unionists of the North, as we 
know he will not the fire-ealing, slave propaganda dis-uniotiists of the 
South ; but his merits entitle him to the undivided su|)port of the Union 
loving, peaceable, orderly, discreet American patriots everywhere — North, 
South, East and West — and he will receive it. It may be, that in these 
times there cannot be found enough with strong nerves and brave hearts 
to elect such a man, but it is better to fight under him, bearing aloft as lie 



dors llie flajT oi !ii< . ^uiilry, inscribed upon it, " Tlie Ainprican Union/' 
" Tliii Constitulion,"' 'The; Band of American hearts." and fculi'er defeat, 
than to join in achievMiv a victory, the shouts over whicli may come back 
to mini^le wiiii ll'.e s ..' and discordant notes (>f the country's knoll. 

O. F. RIOORE. 
AV A??iii.\GTON Crrv, J.'nc :^\, IbJiJ. 



viJUClJLAk. 

Tlic u:i(!orsigiic(l, Members ofthc National Executive Committekoi.' 
THE American Fartv, have pleasure in aniiouiiciuir \r> the people, that, 
satisfnotory arratiiremeiit.s for the future niainteijaiuM of the AMERICAN 
ORGAN, as an authoritative exponent and auvocaie <n' the j)rinciples of the 
jlineri can, Party, have been ooinpU3teil. 

Recommeiicin«' its labors, under these new aiiS|/!cos, the undersiirried 
cheertbily comniei'd the American Organ to tlie £■ nerous confidence of 
the Avuricaji Purlii, in every section of the Confedc; :cy, and they ho[)e its 
columns may command the widest circulation. 

HUMPHREY M.'. USHALL, of Ky. 
SOLOMON G. H.WEN, of N. Y. 
J. MORRISON b, ARRIS, of Md. 
JACOB BROOM, ^>i Perm. 

Washington City, D. C, May 15, ]S56. 



$3.00 


2.00 


J. no 


1.00 


i.-jr. 


•T.'j 


.50 



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